


Change Up

by miraclebee



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Magic, Ice Cream, M/M, Mentions of Sex, Mentions of alcohol, Multi, No sex though, accidental magic, couple switching?, cursing, help i'm bad at summaries, help i'm bad at tagging, jisoo is reassuring, just kissing, kissing under the influence of magic, late night ice cream escapades, seokmin feels inadequate, they're just college-age though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 10:04:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12651363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraclebee/pseuds/miraclebee
Summary: Seokmin didn’t mean to do it. It just sort of…happened. The living room is full of couples, which is actually a normal occurrence for his living room because most of Seokmin’s friends seem to be dating each other. But this time, it’s just…wrong. Everything is wrong.(Or Seokmin fucks up a spell, again, and makes his friends fall in love with each other. Thankfully, Joshua is there to help.)





	Change Up

 

Seokmin didn’t mean to do it. It just sort of…happened. That’s what he tells Joshua, at least, when the senior responds to Seokmin’s frantic phone call and shows up at his apartment at one in the morning. Joshua takes one look around Seokmin’s apartment, his mouth falling open in shock, before he grabs Seokmin’s arm somewhat forcefully and drags him into his bedroom. He closes the door, and then turns to Seokmin, his hands on his hips.

Seokmin’s head is already hanging in shame before Joshua begins his lecture.

“I’ve told you, we’ve all told you, multiple times to be careful with spells you don’t know, Seokmin-ah.” Joshua is firm, but gentle. He’s really glad he didn’t go to Seungcheol, or worse Jeonghan. But seeing as Seungcheol is otherwise occupied and if Jeonghan found out who with—

“Hyung, please just help me fix it, please! I know I messed up but I just want to fix it and Minghao is out there sitting in Seungcheol’s _lap_ and it’s just all sorts of wrong and Jeonghan’s gonna be back in an hour to pick up Minghao!” Seokmin usually doesn’t like to whine and beg (he likes to think, anyway), but desperate times call for desperate measures. Seokmin breaks out his puppy dog eyes and reaches out to play with the bottom of Joshua’s sleeve.

Joshua looks at Seokmin, really looks at him, searching his face for answers like he’s reading his mind or something. And for all Seokmin knows, he could be. Joshua was always good with non-verbal magic, something Seokmin should seriously consider after this latest mishap.

See, this isn’t the first time Seokmin has fucked up with magic. Last year, when Seokmin was experimenting with a spell to turn water into coffee, he somehow accidentally set the table on fire. Thankfully, Mingyu had been there to put it out, but he had to listen to Mingyu berate him for an hour about the dangers of being careless with spells. Then there was the time a few weeks ago that Seokmin had tried making a potion to help with his memory for an upcoming exam. Of course, the potion had backfired and Seokmin had forgotten his own name. Jeonghan had been the one to yell at him about that, and he was ten times more ridiculing than his roommate had been (from what he had been told, though the memory was still a little fuzzy).

But all of those mishaps, though dangerous, hadn’t immediately endangered the wellbeing of a group of people whom Seokmin really loves dearly. This is a whole different ballgame, or whatever the saying is, and Seokmin is fucking terrified.

Joshua sighs. “Alright, I’ll help you,” he says softly.

Seokmin barely keeps his celebratory fist bump contained. Instead, he gives his newest favorite hyung (Soonyoung wasn’t really good at that position anyway) his sunshine smile. The corners of Joshua’s mouth twitch. His gaze remains passive, showing only a hint of the empathy that Seokmin craves.

Joshua walks over to the door and pulls it open, taking a cautious step into the living room. Seokmin follows closely behind, nervously peeking over the senior’s shoulder. The living room is full of couples, which is actually a normal occurrence for his living room because most of Seokmin’s friends seem to be dating each other. But this time, it’s just…wrong. Everything is wrong.

For instance, Jihoon is sitting in the corner, talking quietly with Seungkwan (which is fine, because Jihoon is not the asocial monster that everyone outside of their friend group deems him to be), but he’s giving Seungkwan the heart eyes that are usually reserved for his boyfriend, Jun. Meanwhile, Jun is on the sofa, sitting a little too closely to Chan. And Chan, if Seokmin is to judge by the blush on the younger’s cheeks, looks seconds away from leaning forward and kissing Jun.  Chan’s boyfriend, Hansol, who’s usually glued to his side, is having a very intense discussion with Mingyu, and is so focused on him that he doesn’t notice his beloved boyfriend getting dangerously close to another man. In fact, none of the couples seem to notice each other or Joshua and Seokmin’s presence and the blatant looks of disgust on their faces.

“So can you walk me through what happened again?”

Seokmin rips his eyes away from an uncharacteristically giggling Wonwoo practically sitting on top of Soonyoung to stop from gagging so he can answer Joshua.

“Uh, so we were all hanging out and stuff. We drank a little to blow off steam and because Seungkwan wanted to bitch about Seungcheol because he did something stupid again so they’re on a break, _again—”_

“Just the facts, please, Seokmin-ah,” Joshua says, hand massaging his temple like he does when he’s stressed.

“So someone—Soonyoung, I think, but whatever—spilled some wine, ‘cus we’re classy here at _chez Min et Gyu_ , on my shirt so I went to my room to change. I was going to do a simple change spell, you know, ‘cus I was feeling lazy and didn’t want to change my shirt. But in the middle of the spell, I kind of uh, sneezed? And the spell didn’t work so I had to actually change my shirt myself. And when I came back out into the living room everything was,” Seokmin gestures with his hands to the mismatched couples in his living room. He gives Joshua a sheepish smile that is not returned. Seokmin tries not to take it personally.

Joshua stays quiet for a moment, soaking up the information.

“So…you know what to do?” Seokmin asks hopefully.

Joshua shrugs. “I have some ideas. I think,” Joshua says, tilting his head as Wonwoo lets out a particularly high-pitched giggle and hits Soonyoung’s shoulder affectionately, “when you messed up the change spell, you somehow changed the…affections… of everyone in the apartment.”

Seokmin nods. That makes sense. He thanks Merlin for the fiftieth time that night that he called Joshua. Soonyoung leans close to Wonwoo to whisper something in his ear. Wonwoo grins, cheeks bright red.

“So how do we fix it?”

A loud bang sounding from the kitchen draws Seokmin’s attention away from the scene in front of him, and his stomach drops when he notices which magicked couple is missing from the living room. Seokmin’s heart jumps to his throat as he lunges past Joshua to reach the kitchen and he nearly shrieks when he finds Seungcheol and Minghao in a fierce make-out session against the counter. Neither of his friends comes up for air at their arrival to the scene. Seokmin cringes.

“Minghao _don’t_ — Jeonghan’s gonna kill me.” Seokmin takes a step forward to rip Seungcheol off of Minghao, but Joshua holds him back.

“They’re under a spell,” Joshua reminds him. “They won’t react as they normally do, _clearly_ , which means it could turn violent if you try to take the objects of their…affections…away. Here.”

Joshua pulls out a small velvet pouch from his back pocket. He carefully measures out a pinch of some silvery dust, which Seokmin manages to identify as sleeping dust, and holds it gently in the palm of his hand. Joshua soccer-moms Seokmin behind him, and then blows the dust gently to the forms of Seungcheol and Minghao.

Almost instantly, Seungcheol’s head begins to droop against Minghao’s shoulder with sleep. Joshua rushes forward to gently catch him and pull him across the floor so Seokmin can do the same with Minghao. Seokmin gently lays Minghao’s head on the floor and watches in wonder as Minghao curls up and starts snoring on the spot.

Joshua looks up from the two forms sleeping on the kitchen floor. “First things first, let’s put the others to sleep.”

Seokmin just nods because that image of two of his closest friends (though he really should be used to walking in on people making out; Jihoon and Jun have been dating for years) will stay in his brain for a long time, and not in the good way. He does _not_ want to see more of his friends in the same…predicament.

Joshua carefully measures out some more sleeping dust to give to Seokmin, and together they make their way around the room, putting their friends to sleep without any problems. Seokmin has just finished dusting Mingyu and Hansol, who turn on their sides to spoon in their sleep, when Joshua says five words that made Seokmin’s stomach drop to his feet.

“Where are Soonyoung and Wonwoo?”

Seokmin whips his head around fast enough to give himself whiplash. “What do you mean?”

“They were sitting right here, right?” Joshua motions to the now empty spot by the coffee table that Seokmin clearly remembers the two juniors sitting before.

“Fuck fuck fucking—nononononono _nooooo_!”

Seokmin and Joshua hastily search the apartment; Seokmin’s room, Mingyu’s room, the bathroom, the closets, the kitchen, and with every room, Seokmin feels his heartbeat escalating, his stomach sinking impossibly lower. This is _not_ good. It becomes apparent that Wonwoo and Soonyoung are not in the apartment anymore. Seokmin actually feels like crying.

Joshua takes a deep breath, obviously trying to keep calm. Seokmin is way past that, already working his way up into a panic. Joshua must sense that Seokmin is about to start hyperventilating because he steps toward Seokmin to rub gentle circles onto his back and talks to him in a gentle voice.

“Seokmin-ah, it will be okay. We’ll find them, don’t worry about it—“

“But hyung, what if they—I can’t let them do that, not if they’re under a spell, _ohmygod what if they’re having sex?”_  The thought brings tears to his eyes because every witch knows the dangers of love spells and consent under the influence of a spell is _not_ consent.  He fucked up, big time, and now his friends are going to get hurt because of Seokmin’s own incompetence. He’s always messing things up, always, always, always. Seokmin doesn’t know how he made it this far, or why he hasn’t been kicked out of school for being so stupid—

“Hey, we don’t know that. We need to take things one step at a time, okay? Seokmin, look at me.” Seokmin sniffs tearfully but meet’s Joshua’s eyes. Finally, _finally_ , Joshua gives Seokmin one of his gentle smiles that Seokmin has been craving all night.

“You’re not a fuck up. We’re going to fix this. Can you repeat that for me?”

Seokmin scoffs, but Joshua is giving him one of his hyung-looks. Seokmin takes a deep, shaky breath.

“I’m not a fuck up,” he says quietly, tears finally falling pitifully down his cheeks. “We’re going to fix this.”

Joshua smiles again, reaching up to wipe away Seokmin’s tears. Seokmin might imagine it, but he thinks Joshua’s fingers linger on his cheek. Joshua clears his throat.

“Good. First, a tracking spell. Is there anything of Soonyoung’s or Wonwoo’s here?”

Seokmin nods. He hops over Hansol and Mingyu’s entwined legs to retrieve Wonwoo’s favorite black sweatshirt by the coffee table. He holds it out to Joshua.

“I’m not feeling very confident in my magic right now.”

Joshua nods and doesn’t press, quietly muttering the tracking spell. As Joshua speaks, the sweatshirt starts to glow a sparkling, glittering gold. The gold light stretches from the sweatshirt in a thin, dancing line. The light elongates  toward the front door of the apartment. Joshua nudges Seokmin and the two immediately start following the gold light.

“What about the others?” Seokmin worries as he closes the apartment door.

Joshua already has his phone out, Wonwoo’s sweatshirt held in the crook of his arm. “They should be out for at least an hour without any interruptions. I’m calling backup,” he says.

“Please, anyone but Jeonghan,” Seokmin pleads.

“Hey, Jeonghan, what’s up?” Joshua speaks into the phone. Seokmin groans.

They keep walking as Joshua fills Jeonghan in and asks him to babysit their friends at the apartment. Thankfully, Joshua leaves out the part where everyone had fallen in love with everyone else, and just says that Seokmin had accidentally dosed everyone with sleeping dust when he was drunk.

“ _Where are you guys headed then?”_ Seokmin hears Jeonghan’s voice over the phone. They’re on the street now, about two blocks away from Seokmin’s apartment. It’s eerily quiet, though Seokmin supposes that most people are sleeping at nearing two in the morning. Or at least partying inside because it’s getting cold and Seokmin wishes he grabbed his jacket before heading out into the November night.

“Uhm, Soonyoung and Wonwoo got really drunk and left the apartment and we don’t know if they went home or not, so we’re tracking them,” he lies casually.

It’s not far from the truth, but damn. Joshua’s good.

The gold light leads them to turn into a creepy alley and Seokmin shifts so he’s walking closer to Joshua. For a second, Seokmin thinks they’re going to find the couple pressed up against each other or against the alley wall, like they found Seungcheol and Minghao earlier. Thankfully the twinkling light leads them straight through and back onto another main street.

“ _Hey Shua?_ ”

Seokmin almost jumps. He hadn’t realized Joshua was still on the phone with Jeonghan.

“ _I just got to the apartment. Why is Seungcheol here? Didn’t Seungkwan break up with him again?”_

Oh, fuck. Joshua looks at Seokmin for explanation. Seokmin gestures for the phone and Joshua gives it over without a fuss.

“Hey hyung, its Seokmin. Sorry for accidentally sleep-dusting your boyfriend.” _And letting him make out with someone else._

Jeonghan’s laugh fills the quiet street. Seokmin lets himself smile a little. _“Its okay, Seokmin-ah. He’s less annoying when he’s sleeping.”_

Seokmin chuckles. “And sorry for not inviting you over, too. Seungkwan wanted to vent about Seungcheol-hyung so we made it a senior-free thing because he knows you guys and Joshua-hyung are close. But then Cheol-hyung showed up at the door and demanded to speak with Seungkwan all romantically, and we tried to give them space, but then they started yelling and everyone was pushing to try to see and we were all pretty drunk, and, well…you know the rest I guess.”

Seokmin is so busy retelling the events of the night, that he almost didn’t notice the golden light leading them directly into a store. Joshua gently hits Seokmin’s arm to grab his attention and Seokmin almost drops the phone because he can see the dark figures of Wonwoo and Soonyoung through the shop window.

“Hyung, I think we just found them, talk to you later!” Seokmin chirps, and then shoves the phone back at Joshua so he can run into the store. Spell be damned, Seokmin bursts into the store and immediately throws himself into Soonyoung’s arms and starts bawling like the big baby he is.

“Hyung, _ohmygod_ , are you okay? Are you hurt? Did— _did Wonwoo touch you?_ ” He’s blabbering, he knows he is, but he can’t help it. Soonyoung and Wonwoo are alive and _clothed_ and he found them and it’s going to be okay.

“Oh, hey Seokmin.” Soonyoung sounds dazed. It’s probably the spell, but it causes Seokmin to pull away from the elder boy and inspect him closely. He looks pretty Soonyoung-like, but his eyes are unfocused and there’s no mischievous fire behind them like there usually is.

Seokmin looks to Joshua for help, but Joshua is busy trying to get the attention of Wonwoo. Wonwoo’s eyes are glued to Soonyoung’s and he has a dopey smile on his face. He looks grossly in love with Soonyoung and it’s a little unsettling.

Carefully, Seokmin places himself between Soonyoung and Wonwoo and puts his hands on Soonyoung’s shoulders to keep him in place.

“Soonyoung-hyung, do you know where you are? We have to get you back to my apartment.”

It doesn’t look like Soonyoung comprehended anything Seokmin just said. He keeps trying to peek over Seokmin’s shoulders to get a glimpse of Wonwoo.

“Hyung?” Seokmin waves his hand in front of Soonyoung’s face. “Hey, Soonyoung!” After a couple seconds, Soonyoung’s eyes flicker to Seokmin’s face.

“We’re getting ice cream,” Soonyoung says dreamily.

“We’re on a _date_ ,” Wonwoo giggles.

Seokmin looks around and realizes that they are indeed standing in the middle of a dairy bar. An all-night dairy bar. It’s deserted though, no customers aside from the four of them, and only one attendant behind the cash register who looks like she’s sleeping standing up.

Seokmin sighs. He’s so tired and he just wants to go to bed. Only two hours ago, he was having a great night getting drunk with his friends. Now its two in the morning and he’s in the middle of an all-night dairy bar with two of his closest friends making gross googly eyes at each other. He wants to go home and sleep until noon.

“Hey, hyung, you know where the best ice cream is?” Seokmin asks as a genius thought enters his mind.

Soonyoung looks at Seokmin curiously, which is the biggest reaction Seokmin has gotten from him for this entire late-night interaction. He’ll take it.

“Come on, I’ll show you. Their ice cream is top notch, much better than this place.”

Seokmin takes Soonyoung’s arm and takes a few steps toward the door. Soonyoung doesn’t budge.

“Wonwoo’s coming to, aren’t you buddy?” Joshua supplies, shaking Wonwoo a little. Wonwoo doesn’t say anything, just keeps staring and smiling at Soonyoung.

“Yeah, you guys can hold hands the whole way there,” Seokmin supplies.

Wonwoo’s smile gets impossibly wider as he reaches out and grabs Soonyoung’s hand. Soonyoung interlocks their fingers and lets Seokmin lead him out of the shop.

They continue like that for a while; with Seokmin gripping Soonyoung’s arm and Soonyoung pulling Wonwoo after him by the hand, Joshua following quietly behind with a curious look on his face.

“What?” Seokmin eventually asks. They’re only a few blocks away from his apartment now. Seokmin can practically hear his bed calling to him.

Joshua shrugs. “They look cute together.”

Seokmin smiles. He lets go of Soonyoung, trusting that the older student can walk in a straight line so he can fall in step with Joshua behind him.

“I think Soonyoung-hyung likes Wonwoo-hyung in real life,” he whispers to Joshua.

Joshua raises his eyebrows in surprise. Cute.

“If they remember or something…maybe this mishap can result in something good,” Seokmin says, adding a bitter chuckle at the end.

Joshua’s brows furrow and he opens his mouth as if to say something, but stops. Seokmin hastily turns his attention to Soonyoung and Wonwoo in front of them. Soonyoung is leaning his head on Wonwoo’s shoulder as they walk. It can’t be comfortable, but Seokmin would bet his magical skills that they’re both smiling.

“Seokmin-ah,” Joshua finally says. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Everyone messes up sometimes. It’s called learning.”

“That’s easy for you to say, hyung. You’re, like, good at everything.” Seokmin tries to keep the jealousy out of his voice.

Joshua starts laughing, loud and clear in the still night air. “I’m far from perfect.”

“I didn’t say you were perfect, hyung,” Seokmin teases. Joshua elbows Seokmin playfully.

They’re in front of Seokmin’s apartment now. Seokmin leads the way into the building, continuously promising that the perfect ice cream is just up these stairs, down this hall, through this door. As soon as they step into the apartment, Joshua blows sleep dust at duo. Seokmin swears he sees a frown paint Soonyoung’s face before he blacks out against Seokmin’s chest.

“Do you think they’ll remember this?” Seokmin asks between grunts as he pulls Soonyoung into the entryway so his feet aren’t sticking in the hallway.

Joshua runs a hand through his already perfect hair. “It’s hard to say. I mean, sleep dust sometimes causes memory loss in large amounts, but I’m not sure what the reversal spell could do.”

Seokmin frowns. He knows some of his friends would rather gouge out their own eyes than remember flirting or making out with someone who wasn’t their partner (a picture of Jihoon with his eyes bugging out in horror comes to the front of his brain), but he can’t help but think that Soonyoung and Wonwoo would be good together. They may act like they hate each other on the surface, but Seokmin knows that that’s built on several years of friendship and trust. They’re friends, good friends, and Seokmin thinks that the two could be good for each other.

Seokmin is so lost in his thoughts that he doesn’t notice the dark figure creeping toward them, until it speaks.

“Someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on here?”

Seokmin shrieks and swears that Joshua jumps three feet into the air as Jeonghan announces his presence.

“Oh my god, hyung, you scared me,” Seokmin wheezes, clutching his chest.

“Why’d you knock out Soonyoung and Wonwoo? And more importantly, did Jihoon break up with Jun?” Jeonghan asks with his arms crossed over his chest. There’s probably a curious reason as to why Jihoon and Jun’s relationship is more important to Jeonghan than Soonyoung and Wonwoo’s consciousness, but maybe he’ll save digging further into that issue for another time.

“What—no—why? Why would he do that, ahhh haha, Jeonghannie-hyung you’re so funny! That’s why Minghao loves you, you know, he loves you so much. Whew, what time is it?” Curse Seokmin’s anxious rambling.

Jeonghan raises his eyebrows and disregards the majority of Seokmin’s word vomit, gesturing toward the living room. For what seems like the bazillionth time that night, Seokmin’s stomach squeezes with anxiety as he peers into the living room. At first glance, it looks pretty normal. Everyone is passed out, some closer than others, and it looks like Jeonghan pulled Seungcheol and Minghao out to the living room, too, putting a pillow beneath his boyfriend’s head. But everything is—oh wait. Not everyone is asleep. Jihoon is awake.

He’s laying next to a still knocked-out Seungkwan, caressing the younger boy’s face while singing gently to him. It’s actually a really sweet site; Seokmin’s tough hyung rarely acts so gentle and soft toward the younger members of their friend group. But _fuck_. Why does he have to be singing the fucking love song of the century to Seungkwan, and not his boyfriend? _Fuuuuck_.

“Uh—uhm…well, actually, ‘ya see—” Seokmin starts. He was never great at this whole lying, coming up with stuff on his feet thing.

“You know what, I actually don’t want to know,” Jeonghan says, shocking Seokmin into silence. “I’m just going to…step in the hall for a moment, okay? And when I get back, I don’t want to hear my Hao-Hao whispering _Seungcheol’s name_ in his sleep, okay?”

Jeonghan gives Seokmin a glare that could kill, but doesn’t say anything else as the door quietly closes behind him. He is so incredibly lucky. Wow. He’s going to buy Jeonghan something really expensive for Christmas. And Jeonghan’s birthday. And Minghao’s birthday. Heck, maybe even his own birthday.

“Well that was incredibly lucky,” Joshua muses, turning to Seokmin. Seokmin nods, still dumbfounded.

“What now?” Seokmin asks quietly, eyeing the door. He’s still not convinces Jeonghan won’t burst back in and start hexing him.

“I think a reversal spell should work,” Joshua replies. “Here, let’s get everyone together.”

Seokmin and Joshua start dragging Wonwoo and Soonyoung again, this time toward the living room. They deposit them in the corner they had escaped from. Seokmin tries not to think about the cute way Wonwoo reaches out in sleep blindly to grab Soonyoung’s hand.

Seokmin steps back and joins Joshua by the back of the couch. It looks like Jun and Chan are stirring in their sleep on the couch, Jun pulling Chan closer to his chest as if to protect him from his dreams. Jihoon’s gentle singing permeates throughout the apartment.

“So you used a change spell?” Joshua asks. Seokmin nods.

“Then just reverse the change,” Joshua says. Seokmin nods again.

“What?”

Seokmin fidgets, eyes on the floor. “Can you do it with me? I’m—I’m still not feeling very confident.”

Joshua hesitates. He and Seokmin had never done a spell together before.

Usually, Seokmin only does spells by himself (hence the frequent fuckups), or with his close friends. He did a levitation spell with Mingyu once when they got a new fridge for their apartment, and another time he helped Seungkwan amplify a location charm when they lost his car in the stadium after a concert.

It wasn’t rare for witches to do spells together, but a lot of people didn’t like to make it a common practice. The energies of witches mix during a spell recited together, and if done with the wrong witch, it could result in an energy exchange leaving a witch without magic. But when it’s done with the right one, the bond between the two witches could become stronger.

Seokmin gives Joshua a nervous smile, one that is returned this time without reservation. Carefully, Seokmin takes Joshua’s hand. Instantly a buzzing static fills the air, drowning out Jihoon’s melodic voice. It’s their energies, meeting for the first time and clashing slightly.

“You can do this, Seokmin-ah,” Joshua encourages gently. “I’m just here to help.”

Seokmin feels a warmth creep up from his chest that he’s pretty sure doesn’t have anything to do with the spell. Seokmin nods. He can do this. _He can do this_. He wills his energy to calm and focus. The buzzing dies down.

Finally, Seokmin begins reciting the reversal spell.

A faint wind blows through the small apartment though all of the windows and doors are closed. Jihoon’s gentle singing suddenly stops and leaves the room almost completely silent. A shiver runs up Seokmin’s spine. The energy suddenly shifts and Seokmin becomes hyper aware of how hard he’s gripping Joshua’s hand. Joshua doesn’t make to pull away, though, so neither does Seokmin. It feels nice, warm.

Slowly, all around them, their friends began to wake up in varying states of confusion. He smiles as he takes in Jihoon’s look of bewilderment as he shuffles across the room to gently trying to shake Jun awake while prying Chan from his boyfriend’s vice grip on the maknae. Mingyu stretches, still sleeping, and rolls over so that he’s no longer spooning Hansol. Wonwoo jolts awake and frantically surveys the room.

“What the fuck happened?” Seokmin hears him murmur to no one in particular.

“I should get Jeonghan,” Joshua whispers. Seokmin reluctantly lets go of Joshua’s hand and perches himself on the coffee table. He tries not to feel the distinct shift between their energies as he leaves.

Jihoon is still pulling Chan from his boyfriend, a scowl deeply set into his features. When Jun finally lets go Jihoon huffs and inserts himself in his boyfriend’s arms instead, kicking Chan to the floor. Chan awakes with a start, looking confused but cute with his sleep-ruffled hair. Seokmin chuckles.

“Everyone had a bit too much to drink,” Seokmin supplies for his friends that are awake. Jihoon scoffs, but Chan just shrugs.

Jeonghan and Joshua come back in, Jeonghan making a beeline for Minghao. He gently shakes the sophomore awake, cooing when Minghao sleepily opens his eyes and smiles upon seeing boyfriend.

“Wake up, sleepy-head,” Jeonghan whispers quietly. “We need to go home.”

Minghao nods and starts standing up, looking around for his things. He pauses as confusion paints his face.

“Why do I taste fucking cherry?”

Jeonghan glares at Seokmin, who can only cower in response. Seungcheol is famous for wearing cherry-flavored lip balm.

“We’re leaving,” Jeonghan all but growls.

Minghao just licks his lips and shrugs. “See ya, Seokmin! Thanks for the booze.”

Jeonghan possessively slings his arm around Minghao’s shoulders as they leave. Well, at least Seokmin has few more hours until his untimely death at the hands of a jealous Jeonghan. Probably.

“What was that about?” Chan asks. He’s pulled a blanket around his shoulders and joins Seokmin on the coffee table.

Seokmin shrugs. “Do you…uh, remember anything?”

Chan tilts his head as he tries to think. “I remember drinking, and then I think I was talking to Jun-hyung? I don’t really remember,” Chan admits. Seokmin smiles. Looks like everything is working out like he wanted.

“Well I can remember for the both of us, Chan,” Jihoon grumbles from the couch. The smile falls from Seokmin’s lips.

“Uhm, hyung, what do you mean?” Seokmin tries to look innocent. Jihoon just narrows his eyes.

“I don’t know what you did, Seokmin-ah, but if I ever wake up like that again—” Jihoon is cut off by Jun nuzzling into his neck and whispering something that paints Jihoon’s cheeks pink. Chan makes a gagging sound behind him.

Jihoon suddenly sits up and begins rummaging around for his shoes and jacket.

 “Tell Soonyoung he can’t come back to our apartment tonight,” Jun says, giving a wicked smile to Seokmin. Seokmin cringes and looks over to where Soonyoung is still passed out next to Wonwoo. Wonwoo’s face of disgust at the comment perfectly reflects Seokmin’s own feelings.

Within a minute, the couple is out the door, hasty goodbyes filling the air.

Joshua’s head pokes out of the kitchen. “Did I miss something?”

Wonwoo just groans.

They all spend the next few minutes waking up the rest of their friends. Joshua had helped himself to Mingyu’s stash of hot chocolate and made a steaming mug for everyone. They gather around the coffee table, carefully sipping the hot chocolate.

Seokmin sits next to Mingyu, who like Chan, now has a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Hansol is next to him, leaning against Chan with his eyes still closed and only moving every so often to bring his mug to his lips. Wonwoo and Soonyoung sit next to each other across from Seokmin, both looking a little jumpy and looking away when the other tries to make eye contact. Seungkwan sits on Seokmin’s other side, deliberately not looking in Seungcheol’s direction, and Seungcheol sits on the couch with Joshua. Both of them have their legs folded up like a pretzels and Seungcheol is failing miserably at not looking like a wounded puppy.

No one talks, and though Seokmin would like to think they are sharing a companionable silence, but he knows that it’s mostly just awkward and tired. Like him. Haha. He really needs to go to bed.

Seokmin clears his throat to suggest the idea, but Soonyoung startles so much at the noise that he spills what is left of his hot chocolate all over himself and Wonwoo. Seokmin makes eye contact with Joshua. Joshua just smirks into his mug.

“Oh my god, Wonwoo, I’m so sorry,” Soonyoung starts, trying to wipe up the not-so-hot chocolate with nothing but his hands. He stops when he realizes that the majority of the drink ended up on their laps and Soonyoung is dangerously close to groping Wonwoo’s crotch. Seokmin decides to save his hyung.

“Hey, I have some extra clothes you can borrow,” Seokmin says as he stands. He heads toward his room and takes out two pairs of old sweatpants that probably won’t be too long on his hyungs. Soonyoung follows him to his bedroom, face already red with embarrassment.

“Fuck, Seokminnie, why is it so awkward?” Soonyoung whispers, burying his face in his hands. “I guess we passed out, I don’t really remember, but when I woke up Wonwoo was staring at me and I had the weirdest feeling in my gut, like…I don’t even know how to describe it. I just feel fucking embarrassed around him and I don’t really know why.”

Soonyoung flops onto Seokmin’s bed, staring at the ceiling like the answers were written up there for Soonyoung alone to see.

“I don’t know,” Seokmin says, flopping next to Soonyoung. “Do you…do you like Wonwoo-hyung?”

“Ungh, I don’t know!” Soonyoung groans. He turns to look at Seokmin, a pout on his face.

“It’s okay if you do,” Seokmin says gently. “You should tell him.”

Soonyoung sighs, giving up. “When did my cute little dongsaeng get so smart?”

“I’m not smart, hyung—“

“You need to stop doing that, Seokmin,” Soonyoung says very seriously.

“Doing what?” Seokmin shifts uncomfortably.

“Putting yourself down. Doubting yourself. You’re really smart, Seokmin. You just need to have confidence or whatever,” Soonyoung finishes lamely.

“You too, hyung.” Seokmin waggles his eyebrows at Soonyoung playfully.

Soonyoung groans. “Ugh, my pants are still wet. Gimme these.” Soonyoung rips the sweatpants out of Seokmin’s hand and strips down to his underwear right there. He really doesn’t want to leave his bed; the aftereffects of doing spells and running after his friends all night coupled with the relief that everything seems to be back to normal and no one has killed Seokmin yet for destroying their relationship has really taken a toll on Seokmin physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Soonyoung has to pull Seokmin into a standing position to lead him to the still-quiet living room. Seokmin throws the other pair of pants to Wonwoo, who mumbles his thanks and shuffles to the bathroom to change. Seokmin flops on the couch next to Joshua, wiggling so that their thighs are barely touching.

“Uh, not to be a buzz kill or anything, but I have work tomorrow and I would like to go to bed,” Mingyu announces. Seokmin lets loose a wide yawn for emphasis. Seokmin sends Mingyu a mental “go team!” for subtly kicking their friends out so they can crash.

Chan shrugs Hansol’s head from his shoulder. “Walk me to my dorm?” he asks his boyfriend.

“Yeah,” Hansol replies with a sleepy grin. “Boo, you coming?”

Seungkwan nods stiffly and stands. Seungcheol follows his every movement, eyes large and lower lip practically trembling. Seungkwan makes it halfway to the door before he turns. “Seungcheol.”

Seungcheol’s eyes practically pop out of his head. Seokmin feels Joshua try to sink into the couch cushions. Seokmin follows suit. He is _not_ getting stuck in the middle of a lover’s quarrel for the second time in only a few hours.

“Y-yeah?” Seungcheol stutters breathlessly. Seungkwan crosses his arms and narrows his eyes at the senior.

“I’m still mad at you,” he begins. “And I’m really tired of—of everything.”

Seokmin can feel Seungcheol lose all hope at the other end of the couch. Poor guy.

“Mostly fighting,” Seungkwan continues but his tone changes becoming softer. “Tonight was weird, I really don’t remember a lot of it but…the thought of you not being there and moving on, it really sucks.”

Seungkwan is the one who looks close to crying now. Seungcheol sees it and immediately rushes over to envelop Seungkwan in a hug. Seokmin tries not to stare at the reunited(?) couple, but his sleep deprived brain has already shut down the portion that deals with social situations and the delicacy of giving people privacy, so he does it anyway. (Though if he’s being honest, Seungcheol and Seungkwan are always pretty public with their displays of affection and, uh, less than affection, so they’re probably used to people staring at them as they express their feelings toward each other.)

 “Let’s not fight anymore okay? I—I don’t want to break up again, or go on any more breaks, or, or whatever,” Seungkwan finishes lamely.

Seokmin can’t be too sure that Seungcheol heard him, because he’s busy grinning like an idiot and hugging the crap out of his once-again boyfriend. Seungkwan smiles goofily and hides it in Seungcheol’s neck. It’s when they start swaying on the spot, exchanging whispered ‘I love you’s and ‘I missed you’s that Seokmin blinks and looks away, but not before he sees the sentimental tears in Mingyu’s eyes. He files that information away for later to tease his roommate with.

Wonwoo chooses that second to re-emerge from the bathroom. “What the fuck?” he blurts eloquently.

Seungcheol and Seungkwan awaken from their weird little trance, still smiling like idiots. They wave and say their goodbyes before following Chan and Hansol, who had waited like the good friends they are, out of the apartment and out into the night.

Wonwoo makes a “what the fuck?” face at Mingyu, but the younger boy just shrugs and starts cleaning up the mugs left on the coffee table and disappears into the kitchen.

“Well, tonight was full of surprises, but I really must be off,” Soonyoung says, slipping into his shoes.

“Oh, uh, Jun-hyung warned against going back to your apartment, hyung,” Seokmin says. Soonyoung shoots him a puzzled look. “He left with Jihoon-hyung.”

His face immediately morphs into disgust before he shrugs. “Nothing I haven’t heard before.”

“What time is it?”

Seokmin glances at his phone. “Past three in the morning.”

“Fuck. I have work at 9,” Wonwoo says, eyes popping open. “I better go. Tell Gyu I’ll see him tomorrow.”

Wonwoo stands quickly and grabs his jacket, then pauses. “Does anyone else have a really strong craving for ice cream?”

Soonyoung gasps. “Fuck yes. I know an all-night dairy bar if you’re up for it?” His eyes shift nervously to Seokmin, who shoots his second-favorite hyung subtle thumbs up. “Spending the night out with you will probably be better than hearing Jun’s weird sex moans.”

Wonwoo shrugs. “Fuck it. I’m probably going to be late to work anyway.”

Soonyoung smiles as he grabs his things and Seokmin swears he sees Wonwoo sporting a matching one as they leave.

“Bye hyungs!” Seokmin waves cheerfully. “Well, that was—“

“I should get going, too.”

Seokmin had almost forgotten that Joshua was still sitting next to him. He jumps in his seat, taken aback at the closeness of his voice.

“Yeah, sure, hyung. Thanks, you know…for everything,” Seokmin says weakly. He’d like to say more, to say thanks for saving their friends and Seokmin’s self-confidence simultaneously but Mingyu is in the kitchen and as much as he loves his roommate, he doesn’t think Mingyu will appreciate hearing about how he was spooning Hansol. (Although, he might want to file that away for future teasing, too.)

“You did great tonight, really,” Joshua reassures him after seeing the look of doubt cross Seokmin’s face. “You’re really good at magic. Not a lot of people could have a simple changing spell backfire and have it affect an entire room full of people. It’s actually pretty impressive.”

Seokmin feels himself blush. _Goddamnit_ why can’t he accept a compliment like a normal person? He can still feel the energy around them, remnants from the spell. It’s calming now, though, constant and almost comforting.

“And sorry I was so tough on you earlier. Maybe, though—maybe I can help you sometime?” Joshua offers, looking shy. He gives a small smile. “You know, with non-verbal magic. If that’s what you want to learn, so there aren’t any more, uh, sneezing incidents?”

Seokmin beams. “Yeah. Wait, how did you know that? Did you read my mind?”

“You’re not very hard to read, Seokmin-ah.” Joshua smiles, full and honest. Seokmin’s stomach flips again. But unlike the countless times it previously happened that night, this time is different. It has Seokmin’s breath hitching and his cheeks flushing. Oh. _Oh._

He feels their energies mixing in nervous excitement. Seokmin beams.

“I’ll see you later?”

“Of course.”

When Seokmin finally falls into bed that night, he finds his dreams pleasantly full of his new favorite, gentle hyung.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Uhhhhhmmmm. Please ignore any mistakes :)  
> Happy comeback day, everyone! Please fan responsibly. (And if you haven't seen it, check out Clap...go!)


End file.
